Ali Tareen, the former owner of the Multan Sultans franchise – recently renamed Rawalpindi – shared a brief and meaningful message following the franchise auction held earlier today.
Tareen, who was present during the auction and did not place any bids, took to X (formerly Twitter) and wrote, “Janoob ki Behsaan”.
Earlier in the day, the Pakistan Super League (PSL) franchise was sold to Wally Technologies for Rs 2.45 billion after a fierce bidding war.
Bidding started at a base price of PKR 1.82 billion, with CD Ventures, Particle Igniter and Walleye Technologies vying for the rights.
After intense bidding, Wally Technologies won the highest bid in PSL history.
Subsequently, the new owners announced that they would change the franchise’s name from Multan Sultans to Rawalpindi, citing an association with the city from childhood as the reason behind the change.
PCB Chairman Najam Sethi, former Pakistan batsman Zakir Abbas and many other prominent figures from the cricket fraternity attended the auction.
Multan Sultans were added to the PSL in 2017 and were initially owned by the Schon Group. After one season, the PCB terminated the contract, following which Ali Tareen formally took over the franchise and held it for seven years.
However, as a result of strained relations between Tareen and the PCB, he did not renew his 10-year franchise contract, leading to a fresh bid.
The PCB accused Tareen of violating several clauses of the contract and demanded a public apology as well as retracting his statements.
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